Rewriting

"The writer understands it, but no one else does."

Press Releases
Tasked with "cleaning up" a press release, I conducted additional research and interviews to produce the "After" version.

BEFORE
[Company] developed a new themeline, identity, and look and feel for a Seattle based Internet and server security company called WatchGuard Technologies. Their new brand heightens approachability and elevates security to a higher business decision.

According to [Company]'s core team that worked on this project, it was "a exhilarating project filled with surprises as we guided a security company away from safe and lock pad images to an approachable brand with depth and meaning while challenging them to dare to be different." This was a huge challenge in an industry where trust relationships are fatal...

AFTER
WatchGuard Technologies, a Seattle-based Internet and server security company, has partnered with [Company] in developing a new brand identity, themeline, and look and feel. In the computer security industry, the traditional brand symbolism is rooted in the cold, concrete images of historical "security"—locks, safes, and solid blocks of stone and metal—that defend against malicious invaders. The new WatchGuard brand leads the industry out of the trenches, elevating security issues to approachable, common-business-sense levels.

Jane Doe, [Company] account executive for WatchGuard, was extremely pleased with how the project turned out. "WatchGuard really caught the vision of where they could take their brand—moving away from the safe-and-lock imagery to an approachable, friendly theme with depth and meaning. We kept challenging them to be different, to communicate warmth and reliability instead of a bolted door, and they met the challenge."...



Brand Guidelines
When the Microsoft Partner Program revised and greatly expanded its visual identity handbook (adding nearly 80 pages), I worked closely with the hired agency to reorganize and rewrite the entire booklet.

    


Project Summaries
While revamping their company Web site, interior design firm Tully Associates needed to condense their case studies into tight, polished, Web-friendly descriptions.



When Tully Associates converted a three-story retail mall and theater complex into a conference facility and call center, infilling the sloped floor, adding windows to the theater's external wall, and breaking up block-long hallways was just the start. We lowered the open-area ceilings to manage the acoustic, lighting, and HVAC requirements, but retained the second-to-third floor escalators, enhancing the team environment and facilitating easier employee movement. Interior "cloud" fixtures provided visual transitions between the large vertical spaces and the work areas. Fabric banners, MechoShades, and an energy-efficient, indirect lighting system combine to control light levels and heat buildup.


Essays/White Papers
The International Engineering Consortium publishes high-quality professional journals for engineering and communications professionals, academics, and students. Here I transformed transcripts of conference presentations into essays ready for publication. This involved adding professional tone and organization, incorporating question-and-answer sessions into the narrative, and beefing up text with information originally presented visually (e.g., turning "This PowerPoint slide pretty much speaks for itself" into several paragraphs of descriptive essay content).